Chinese geologists say they have uncovered an enormous gold deposit buried beneath the Wangu gold field in Hunan Province in central China. Early estimates suggest more than 1,000 metric tons of gold worth about 600 billion yuan, or roughly $85.9 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If those numbers hold up, the site would rank among the largest gold deposits ever documented and could even rival South Africa’s long-running South Deep mine<\/a>. That is a huge claim for a place most people have never heard of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new cache sits under forested hills in Pingjiang County<\/a>, where the Geological Bureau of Hunan Province<\/a> has been drilling for years. Officials report more than 40 gold-bearing veins within about 2,000 meters that already contain around 300 metric tons of gold, with computer models hinting at more than 1,000 metric tons down to 3,000 meters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In simple terms, geologists are finding streaks of gold-rich rock running through otherwise ordinary stone, like bright frosting swirled through a loaf of marble cake. Liu Yongjun, a deputy head of the bureau, said the team used three-dimensional geological modeling<\/a> to map the veins at depth and guide each new borehole. Core from the edges of the field shows gold as well, which suggests the buried system may extend beyond the first mapped boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gold might feel abundant when you look at jewelry displays or central bank vaults on television, yet the global supply is limited. Recent summaries based on data from the United States Geological Survey<\/a> and the World Gold Council<\/a> suggest that humanity has mined about 200,000 metric tons of gold so far, with around 60,000 metric tons left in known reserves that can be mined economically.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA buried treasure beneath Hunan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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How big this discovery really is<\/h2>\n\n\n\n